New Puppy Advice

I have not had a dog since I was in 4th grade.  Sammy was an outside dog and I didn't do much with him, he was the parents.

Now we have Maple a cocker spaniel mix, a cute mutt.

We did a bunch of research on dogs from watching the Dog Whisperer, reading books, talking to friends and prayer.  Maple is the pup of some of our good friends.  This gives us some information like how big she may get and her mentality - I hope.

Learn from out mistakes and observations:

1. She is not a cat.  She will lay in the sun, swipe at you like a cat but also requires more work and attention.
2. She will eat anything from Legos, to poop to crayons to paper and so much more.
3. She behaves best if she gets plenty of exercise - just like what Caesar Milan says
4. She requires lots of food to be taught.  She likes bread, eggs, chicken etc
5. A 2 point harness on her is saving my arms, wrists and shoulders
6. She keeps growing so she is on her 4th harness.
7. She still likes to bite at 5 months.
8. Since her toys when little were stuffed animals she goes after ALL stuffed animals.
9. Having a den and fenced area gives her and us rest.  
10. Socks are smelly, thus the best to play with around the house.  This makes laundry get folded faster and no one wears matched socks.
11. No toy is her favorite, it changes.  Her husky, her pink pull toys and bully sticks are important to her and almost enough to get her back when running away.
12. She is faster than any of us.  Use food to get her back.
13. She likes to run, run, run and run.  She takes a micro rest and then runs again.
14. She has her own slide, she likes jumping and can get on our elevated bed.
15. Her worst enemy is the cat who taught her her how to swipe and makes her run fast.

I already have 2 kids saying they love her more than the cat.  One of which seems to get bit more than anyone else due to his running and jumping.  The other child was the most scared of the dog and is the one Maple seems to obey the most, even without food.

Lillian describes Jonathan's relationship with Maple "Maple is a ferocious lion and Jonathan is an itty bitty chipmunk."